“Sustainable Electronics” – What it Means for Electronics Manufacturing
Electronics manufacturers are now challenged with the unique issue of designing, engineering, manufacturing, and installing devices while paying close attention to the environmental effect of the products throughout their entire lifespan.
Electronics manufacturing generates a lot of waste. Electronics companies are expected to decrease e-waste by creating devices that utilize as few toxic elements and collecting recycling. In addition, green manufacturing entails creating goods with longer lifecycles. This further reduces the quantity of e-waste generated by the electronics sector.
Sustainable electronics manufacturing emphasizes part reduction, material restriction, and component reuse. Sustainable electronics development, when done correctly, enables electronics producers to make environmentally friendly goods while keeping the same quality and dependability of the electronics they produce.
Toxic compounds such as lead, mercury, and cadmium leak into soil and eventually contaminate groundwater when electrical devices wind up in landfills. Electronic trash must be properly disposed of to safeguard our environment from these dangerous compounds.
Toxic compounds present in electronic devices are not only hazardous to the environment but also to the employees who manufacture them. Sustainable electronics production aims to limit the toxic elements used in electronic products and the hazards that come with them.
Murata’s Sustainable Electronics Initiatives
Murata manufacturing aims to employ “sustainable resources” for all production equipment and components to develop new ways for sustainable electronics manufacturing. Therefore, the company continues to use resources that will be available in the future, such as resources with a low risk of degradation and resources where consumers do not restrict or limit usage.
The company also employs “recycled resources” for any waste created during manufacturing processes. They are currently transitioning to procedures that will be reusable for a long time to develop a more sustainable electronics manufacturing process.
Murata is working on a project to collect and recycle materials (copper, iron, etc.) from Murata products that consumers no longer use.
Responses to climate change
Murata’s attempts to lessen the environmental impact of production continues. Reinforcing climate change countermeasures has been designated as a priority (material problem), and a target quantity of GHG reduction has also been established.
Total GHG emissions climbed fast until fiscal 2018, owing to increasing manufacturing triggered by recent increases in demand for electronic components, M&As, and new company expansions. However, with the implementation of the Paris Agreement, businesses are now expected to cut overall GHG emissions while expanding.
Therefore, Murata aims to reduce overall GHG emissions by encouraging energy efficiency and sustainable sources, with the Climate Change Committee (headed by the Executive Vice President) playing a pivotal role. As a result, Murata obtained SBT accreditation and set a goal to minimize overall GHG emissions.
Furthermore, the company is not only engaged in energy conservation based on capital investment but also developing new energy management systems that integrate their sensors and IoT technologies to optimize energy consumption.
Protecting biodiversity
Murata’s founder developed the “Murata Green Policy” in 1988. The firm has been conscious of the link between commercial operations and biodiversity since then, focusing its efforts on protecting and restoring ecosystems.
Murata also aims to protect the woods around their facilities through the “Murata Forest” initiative.
Promoting greenification
Not content with just adhering to the requirements of the Factory Location Act and taking into account the landscapes around their facilities, Murata is engaged in greening efforts that aim to both build and conserve regional ecological networks.
Fukui Murata white egret orchids
“Murata Forest” campaign
Protecting woods in developed regions has been identified as an essential tool for biodiversity conservation. Murata’s “Murata Forest” initiative aims to conserve similar forests in various Japanese locations.
For example, with the help of local people, the company is arranging Murata employees and volunteers from their families to thin out plants and clean undergrowth in a forested area in the Kouzaki district of Kameoka City Kyoto Prefecture once a month.
Green Procurement
Green procurement is necessary to acquire resources with a low environmental burden to lessen the environmental impact of goods. Murata publishes the “Green Procurement Standards” paper, which covers information such as Murata’s approach to green supply chain management and supplier standards, and encourages green procurement with supplier understanding and collaboration.
Promotion of Green Procurement Evaluating Suppliers
When conducting new business, Murata requests that its partners handle global environmental issues such as climate change and pollution following the “Murata Group Supply Chain CSR Procurement Guidelines.” In addition, they assess the state of chemical substance control at production locations to decide if the company does business with a supplier.
Chemical Substance Management and Pollution Prevention
Murata’s ultimate objective is to “take on the challenge of schemes that are not limited to traditional frameworks and accomplishing manufacturing that unifies with local communities to carry out our social duty oriented at a sustainable society.”
To achieve this purpose, Murata has defined medium- to long-term targets based on two standpoints: environmental protection and chemical substance management.
Preventing Environmental Incidents and Soil Contamination
Murata is conscious of the serious environmental risks associated with using chemical chemicals, and they are taking precautions to avoid contamination.
To prevent environmental incidents, the firm voluntarily adopts regulations and executes steps related to facility regulations and operational management for storing and transporting hazardous substances inside work sites.
Murata hires legally authorized waste disposal professionals to dispose of industrial waste and frequently inspects its processing facilities to assure correct treatment. They also undertake surveys to reduce the danger of soil contamination caused by ground deformations during plant construction.
Contamination assessments and decontamination of soil and groundwater
Murata has been proactive in assessing soil and groundwater pollution caused by previous company activity and has aggressively pushed toward early restoration.
The in-situ bio technique is used by the firm depending on the qualities of the soil, the contamination concentration, and the polluting source’s location.
The in-situ iron powder method, the in-situ oxidation and decomposing method, or other decontamination methods employ cutting-edge technology to disinfect the region based on the source of contamination. Furthermore, Murata established wells at the borders of the facilities in concern to monitor the state of groundwater decontamination.
Control of emissions of air-polluting substances
Murata is striving voluntarily to reduce its volatile organic compounds (VOC) emissions that contribute to air pollution.
Exhaust fumes treatment equipment (regenerative thermal oxidizers [RTO]) is being installed in work locations that employ high VOCs. While the quantity of VOC utilized is projected to rise as production increases, Murata will continue to support activities that seek to not only build VOC removal equipment but also decrease the amount of VOC used in our production processes to meet our 2030 objective of reducing VOC emissions.
Distributors of Murata Manufacturing Sustainable Electronics
Murata Manufacturing offers a diverse range of sustainable electronics products. Murata Manufacturing is an excellent choice if you want to work with a prominent company in the sustainable electronics industry.
Murata products are available in large quantities from suppliers and distributors worldwide. BD Electronics is one of the leading sustainable electronics distributors if you want the most outstanding supplier services from purchase to delivery.
For further information about Murata Manufacturing products, please contact us. Our sales staff will contact you as soon as possible.
